AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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Defendants and prosecutors could appeal a verdict, first to the Court of Appeals,
then to the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals reviewed questions of fact and
law, while the Supreme Court reviewed only the application of the law and constitutional
questions. There also were customary courts.
Traditional chiefs could act as mediators and counselors and had authority in customary
law cases as well as status under national law where they were designated
as auxiliaries to local officials. Chiefs collected local taxes and received stipends
from the Government, but they had no police or judicial powers and could only mediate,
not arbitrate, customary law disputes. Customary courts, located only in large
towns and cities, tried cases involving divorce or inheritance. They were headed by
a legal practitioner with basic legal training who was advised by an assessor knowledgeable
in the society’s traditions. The judicial actions of chiefs and customary
courts were not regulated by law, and defendants could appeal a verdict to the formal
court system. Women did not have equal legal status with men and did not
enjoy the same access to legal redress (see Section 5).
Defendants had the right to counsel, to be present at trial, to confront witnesses,
to examine the evidence against them, and to appeal verdicts. The Constitution affirms
the presumption of innocence. The law provides for counsel at public expense
for minors and indigent defendants charged with crimes carrying a sentence of 10
years or more. Although lawyers complied with government requests to provide
counsel, the Government generally did not remunerate them. Widespread ignorance
of the law prevented the accused from taking full advantage of these rights. There
was only one defense attorney known to have a private practice outside the capital.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence.—The law
generally requires that police conducting a search have a warrant, normally issued
by a judge; however, human rights organizations reported that police often conducted
routine searches without warrants. Police may conduct searches without
warrants when they have strong suspicion that a house shelters criminals or stolen
property. The State Security Law also provides for warrantless searches.
Following the August mutinies and before the presidential decree, gendarmes conducted
searches of the houses of former military officers without a warrant and arrested
several persons (see Section 3). Five officers and one civilian were arrested
in connection with the August mutinies. Three were the officers who had previously
been arrested for alleged involvement in Djibrilla’s 2000 kidnaping (see Section 1.b.).
They were rearrested after the August mutinies and remained in investigative detention
at year’s end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.—The Constitution provides for freedom of speech
and of the press; however, on several occasions the Government limited these rights
in practice. On numerous occasions during the year, government officials initiated
lawsuits against journalists for articles that either criticized them personally or
criticized the armed forces or for complicity in libelous comments.
The Government published a French-language daily newspaper, Le Sahel, and its
weekend edition. There were approximately 12 private French-language weekly or
monthly newspapers, some of which were affiliated loosely with political parties.
The private press remained relatively assertive in criticizing government actions.
Foreign journals circulated and reported freely. Strict accreditation requirements
were imposed on domestic and foreign journalists; however, there were no reports
that any journalists have been denied accreditation. In November 2001, the Government
eliminated the subsidies and preferential tax treatment on newsprint and
other supplies.
The Government continued to use existing law to criminalize slander and libel
and to prosecute, convict, and sentence to prison critics who infringe those laws in
the judgment of the courts. Following the August mutinies, the Government issued
a presidential decree banning press comment on military and security issues related
to the August mutinies. Although the Government subsequently suspended the decree
after the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, several reporters and one
human rights advocate were detained for statements that allegedly violated the decree.
The charges included ‘‘disseminating false news’’ and ‘‘propagating information
that could jeopardize national defense operations.’’ In September the 75-year-old
human rights activist, Bagnou Bonkoukou, was tried and sentenced to 1 year in
prison for issuing a press release that disputed the Government’s version of the August
mutinies. The press release alleged that several persons were killed during the
August mutiny in Diffa and called for an independent international investigation of
the mutinies. After serving only 6 weeks of his sentence, Bonkoukou was released
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